$10 Spent on Seeds

I would like to thank my formative years for my fascination with gardening. Until the age of four, my parents lived a rural part of Long Island, New York, and there I learned about the simplicities of the land. Yes, this is the idealized version of rural life, but when you are under the age of 5, everything is idealized.

Around the corner lived a farmer who kept horses and ponies that I got to feed. The woman who babysat me lived on the farm her husband had owned since the 1700s. He grew strawberries during the summer and I remember going out to the fields with him to pick them.

Fast-forward to growing up in the urbanity of Southern California where we had a few citrus trees, a palm tree out front, and a large lawn. That was considered quite the accomplishment, since it being somewhat arid, anything green was a source of pride.

So where my fascination with growing things comes from could really be a myriad of source — some distant childhood memory, my Indiana farmer ancestors reminding me of my genetics, or the fact that I do kind of like science a little, well a lot, for an English major and there’s something really cool about growing things. A science project for the backyard.

So, basically, why I brought this up was I bought some seeds today after browsing seed catalogues at work. I did some research and decided to go with some things that are supposedly not to hard to grow (I’ll factor out the fact that a certain corner of the garden has been dubbed the “Corner of Death” – the previous owners used to dump oil and car parts there). Eggplant, Jalapeno, Fennel, Pumpkin, and Blue Lake Bean. I even managed to plant them. In ten days, I’ll let you know if the birds have eaten them yet.